Microbiology Of Chlamydia

First Published in 1988, this book offers a full, comprehensive guide into microbiology of Chlamydia and its relationship with our bodies. Carefully compiled and filled with a vast repertoire of notes, pictures, and references this book serves as a useful reference for Students of Medicine, and other practitioners in their respective fields.

First Published in 1988, this book offers a full, comprehensive guide into microbiology of Chlamydia and its relationship with our bodies. Carefully compiled and filled with a vast repertoire of notes, pictures, and references this book serves as a useful reference for Students of Medicine, and other practitioners in their respective fields.

The genus Chlamydia encompasses a number of species of obligate intracellular bacteria, including important human pathogens like the most common bacterial agent of sexually transmitted disease. This volume reviews current knowledge of chlamydial biology, covering the unusual structure of the bacteria – which alternate between metabolically almost inactive and fast-dividing forms. It also discusses the ways in which Chlamydia manipulates the host cytoskeleton and subverts the host cell’s defence, and illustrates how genomics have begun to uncover the diversity and complexity of chlamydial strains that look very similar but may cause distinct forms of disease. Further, it describes how techniques are now finally being established that can genetically modify Chlamydia, and discusses why such modification is still very difficult and what progress we can expect. Lastly, it presents our current understanding of chlamydial disease: what do we know about chronic infections, what are the mechanisms of inflammatory damage, and what are the prospects of a vaccine? Written be specialists in these various areas, the book is a valuable work of reference for students and scientists with an interest in the molecular, cellular and immunobiology of these fascinating bacteria.

A current review of basic research on Chlamydiales biology and pathogenesis in one comprehensive volume. • Details the scientific knowledge about how these obligate intracellular bacteria invade, survive and replicate inside eukaryotic cells. • Describes the spectrum of disease caused by an infection including protective and pathologic immune responses. • Describes the latest developments, including genomics and biomathematical modeling, and progress towards genetic tools and a vaccine. • Serves as a significant research book for scientists, physicians, medical students, public health professionals, epidemiologists, biocomputational scientists and government policy makers.

New insights into one of the world's most common infectious diseases Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular bacteria that cause one of the most common sexually transmitted infectious diseases in the world. The infection disproportionately impacts women and the highest prevalence of infection is found in adolescents. Most chlamydial infections are asymptomatic. Untreated infections are sources of further spread of infection and can lead to serious consequences including pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility and chronic pelvic pain. Chlamydial infections also increase a person's susceptibility to HIV and other STDs. Featuring contributions by internationally recognized experts in epidemiology, infectious disease research and chlamydial biology, this book provides up-to-date reviews from a clinical and public health perspective on chlamydia epidemiology and control programs, genomics and pathogenicity, diagnosis, treatment, host immune responses, and the latest on the search for an effective vaccine. Also included are chapters on the impact of chlamydial infection on specific populations such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and an update on the outbreak in Europe of the invasive chlamydial infection, lymphogranuloma venereum or LGV. This comprehensive publication is intended for clinicians, public health workers and scientists with interest in sexually transmitted diseases, medical microbiology, infectious diseases and clinical research.

The proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Chlamydial Infections, published by Cambridge University Press in 1986, became an essential source of reference for researchers and clinicians interested in infections caused by this important group of organisms. This, the latest volume arising from the 7th Symposium, follows the successful pattern of its predecessor to provide a wide-ranging and contemporary account of Chlamydial research. Chlamydia continues to be a major cause of sexually transmitted disease and infertility in man, with growing awareness that there may be an important co-factor in the spread of AIDS. Ocular chlamydia infection is the world's prime cause of preventable blindness. This has prompted major research into new methods of diagnosing and preventing chlamydial disease. At the same time a new species of Chlamydia has been designated, Chlamydia pneumoniae, whose clinical impact is under detailed investigation.

Chlamydiae are a group of obligate intracellular microorganisms with a homogeneous group-specific antigenic structure, and a unique mode of development. The infections caused by them are unprecedented and wide-spread throughout the world, including a broad range of hosts among domestic and animal species and humans, and a variety of clinical manifestations. The uniqueness of chlamydia pathology consists mainly in the fact that the agents of the individual diseases are so close in their biological properties that they are represented only by the single genus Chlamydia, which includes all currently recognized species.Although chlamydiae and chlamydial infections were discovered a long time ago, they are still under-researched and relatively unknown to broad circles of microbiologists, virologists, epidemiologists and clinicians. A number of issues relating to molecular biology, pathogenesis, mechanisms of Chlamydia development and their interactions with cells, as well as their genetic conditioning and regulation, remain unclear. The same is true for ambiguities, problems and contradictions related to epidemiology, diagnostic approaches, immunity and vaccines. Based on scientific facts and the analysis of literature, and the experience of the author, Chlamydiae and Chlamydial Infections attempts to shed light on the cited problems, in terms of modern microbiology, cell biology and molecular biology. The scientific topics discussed include:• Biological, morphological and antigenic properties of Chlamydia spp• Genes, genomic structure and genetic regulations• Conventional diagnostic methods and examinations• Detection and differentiation of Chlamydia organisms by DNA detection systems• Clinical forms and manifestations and drug therapy• Pathology• Epidemiological peculiarities of Chlamydia ─ induced diseases in animals and humans• Immunity and vaccines

Chlamydia pneumoniae is a bacteria that is most commonly known for causing colds and pneumonia. However, researchers have recently found a link between C. pneumoniae and atherosclerosis, a clogging of the arteries that causes heart attack and stroke. In addition, ongoing research is showing that certain strains may play a role in asthma, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, and arthritis. This volume, part of the Infectious Agents and Pathogenesis series, is a complete portrait of C. pneumoniae and what is currently known about it.